The Mantooth

A pretty good summary of this story is to simply say it is weird. I was interested up until about 1/3 of the way through, then became quite bored and skimmed until the end. It only got weirder. The story is so disjointed, I don't even know how to summarize it. Not my cup of tea at all.

I do not understand how this book is getting such a high rating. Too much of the book is taken up with B-movie style lovie-dovey talk and Sylviana is more like a 1950s caricture of a woman. Why does the commnader of the NASA crew sound like he escaped from the 1950s as well? Also so much is left unresolved, what is the story with "the aliens" and the ability to talk to the Sun? Had the potential to be a great story but poorly put together.

Rating: two stars for the idea behind the book.

A good yarn. I did, however, find the "heroine" a most unlikable person. A selfish self centered parody of a liberal. I would not have been unhappy if the hero found someone else to share his life with instead of this "taker"

A reasonably well written story but I felt that the author was under pressure to wrap up the story. The last couple of chapters almost seemed to be written by someone else and didn't have the same flow as the rest of the book.

Overall, a good book, but I found myself skipping over some of tedious and overly-wordy parts. The premise is quite interesting, and the characterization is very good. the author was able to make you care about the 2 main characters.

This one is something of a throwback. It reminded me somewhat of "Planet of the Apes," somewhat of "One Million Years B.C." The genre is 'end of the world', but not in the traditional sense. Man (virtually) destroys himself, but not the earth. Instead the radiation from nuclear war takes Man back to a more primitive time, himself less evolved, even Neanderthal.

But one character is born fully human, thus the inevitable conflict. From the very first chapter he is made an outcast in a world where individuals rarely survive. Yet he meets his match in Sylviana, the daughter of a 20th Century scientist who put her into suspended animation as the bombs started falling.

Thus it also becomes an echo of Adam and Eve, and yet a further clash of cultures. The story grows and evolves, including both human and animal characters, some who have evolved into rational beings even as Man digressed.

The book is divided into three parts, and as such, has not one ending but three, which is interesting. And the book ends not with hints of a sequel, but by the observation that, "And so one chapter ended, even as another began."

Life goes on. I like it.